Aetna Set To Shift Some Staff

An Aetna Life & Casualty Co. reorganization will mean moves out of state, transfers within Connecticut or jobs lost for about 385 employees in Rocky Hill.

The upheaval is the result of a company decision to redeploy certain employees in Aetna Health Plans -- health insurance and managed care operations -- to Midwestern offices.

FOR THE RECORD - About 325 employees of Aetna Health Plans' central region operation in Rocky Hill will be affected by a staff redeployment to Midwest offices. The 325 include 60 people in Rocky Hill assigned to serve hio customers. The total number of affected people was incorrect in a story on Page B1 Wednesday.

Employees have expected a redeployment for months, and details were announced to them Tuesday.

The aim of the moves is to bring Aetna personnel closer to the customers they serve.

The 385 jobs will eventually be cut in Connecticut, but the number of layoffs that may be necessary is not known yet. It depends partly on how many employees are willing to relocate.

An informal survey of employees found that about half said they would consider relocating, and that the other half were not interested, Aetna spokeswoman Linda Ambrose said.

The largest group affected is about 325 employees in Rocky Hill who are assigned to serve central region customers.

Only about 90 positions will be available for central region employees in Chicago, the new headquarters for that region.

Of the 90, about 50 employees are expected to move out during July, Ambrose said. The other 40, who will be part of a customer team, will probably relocate by the end of September. Aetna will try to find other positions for employees who do not want to relocate or are not offered a relocation.

In addition to the 325 central region employees, another 60 Rocky Hill employees who are assigned to an Ohio customer team will be affected. It is not known how many of the 60 will relocate to Ohio, and Ambrose said Aetna has not settled on which Ohio city will be the team's headquarters. The move of the Ohio region probably will not be completed until Thanksgiving, she said.

Aetna previously confirmed that Aetna Health Plans' southern region operations in Middletown are moving some employees to Dallas and Atlanta in a pilot program. Instead of a full-scale redeployment of customer teams, certain job functions are being moved, Ambrose said.

About 15 southern region employees are scheduled to relocate to Dallas and Atlanta this month.

The central region employees who do not want to relocate will be encouraged to stay on in Rocky Hill as long as they are needed -- possibly as long as 18 months for some. Employees with less than five years' service at Aetna will receive an extra four weeks' pay to stay on.